So Far Away No One Will Notice (Book)

So Far Away No One Will Notice is a profound exploration of the gay experience across two distinct eras, highlighting enduring challenges and the fight for true equality.

After months of excruciating pain that left him struggling to walk, artist and writer Arthur Bruso was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic prostate cancer. Aggressive treatment rendered his cancer “undetectable” within six months, but this apparent victory led Bruso into a deep reflection on his fragile mortality.

Amid this introspection, Bruso discovered Fellow Travelers, a streaming series based on Thomas Mallon’s novel, which follows Tim Laughlin and Hawk Fuller as they navigate a clandestine relationship during the McCarthy-era Lavender Scare of the 1950s, continuing through the AIDS pandemic of the 1980s. This show became a powerful catalyst, unlocking a deluge of Bruso’s own memories.

Bruso draws striking parallels between the lives of these fictional characters and his own experiences as a gay man. From his early sexual awakening and experiences to the heartbreaking murder and funeral of his first serious partner, Bruso’s memoir juxtaposes the dramatic episodes of Fellow Travelers with deeply personal chapters of his life. While the timelines and specifics may differ, the emotional and social struggles resonate with uncanny similarity.

So Far Away No One Will Notice is a moving testament to the resilience and complexity of queer lives, urging readers to reflect on how far we’ve come and how far we still have to go.

"So Far Away No One Will Notice (Bentboiz Press), a pained, meditative, lyrical life story that covers his upbringing in conservative Catholic Albany, his relationships with lovers, siblings, and parents, and the complicated dynamics of life in queer America before the passage of domestic partnership legislation. Throughout the book, Bruso is forthright, confessional, and unsparing, and he’s often nearly as tough on himself as he is on those who denied him basic rights and respect for his identity as a gay man. The artist testifies to the ways that homophobia distorts lives, encourages deception and self-loathing, and corrupts everybody around it, straight and nonstraight alike."

Tris McCall,

"In a Memoir, a Gay Man Chronicles His Battle with Homophobia and Cancer,"

Jersey City Times

Arthur Bruso and Bentboiz Press © 2024

Purchase So Far Away No One Will Notice here.

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Black Hole

Arthur Bruso; Black Hole; 4"h x 4"w x 4.5"d; cardboard, tape spool, copper wire, aluminum foil, glass beads, tissue paper, acrylic paint, steel wire, glue.

As an unrepentant pack-rat, I felt justified of my habit upon finding photographs of Joseph Cornell’s studio. I had been contemplating a box idea ever since I had learned about Cornell. Years later, still not acting on my box constructions, but having moved my collection of junk three times, I saw a retrospective of Rauschenberg which included small wooden boxes he built in the 1950’s. These reinvigorated my desire to proceed with my boxes.

Black Hole is the latest in a series of assemblage boxes that I have been constructing. An object suggests to me what the idea of the box may be. With Black Hole, the object was a nearly spent roll of black cloth, electrician’s tape. It was the negative space of the roll, combined with the idle fact that the cardboard spool had begun to unravel that I focused on.

Black holes have long held a fascination for me. The idea that all matter is going to be spiraling down a massive, insatiable hole, that has the strongest gravitational pull in the universe, both frightened me and held me in awe.

In this box, I have tried to render the concept of space being bent by the enormous gravitational forces exerted by the black hole by showing the interior space narrower at the back than at the front. Matter spiraling into the hole and x-rays shooting out are depicted by the white beads and the silver foil respectively.

I get a sense of ironic humor that I have contained one of the most destructive forces in the universe in a 4-inch square box. The universe may be infinite, but that also means that it can be contained in that small space.

Black Hole was first exhibited as part of the Hocus Pocus exhibition at Curious Matter.

Arthur Bruso © 2009

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Patrick Hughes at Art on Paper

Patrick Hughes, all 4"h x 6" w; watercolor on paper.

I first encountered the work of Patrick Hughes at the New York Art on Paper fair. I was struck by his engaging compositions, subtle and controlled palette, and intimate size, in the context of big, flashy, need to grab your attention works all around. The paintings are very reminiscent of Juan Gris with a touch of Joan Miro. And this is where they become problematic, because they look too much like they could have been painted in early 20th Century, Paris. This is problematic, because Patrick Hughes is from Iowa and is making art in 2018. Does art need to reflect the time and place of its origin? Perhaps. It needs to at least build on its influence if it is to attract any interest. In these paintings, Hughes has done an admirable job of capturing the feel of analytical cubism and early surrealism, but he hasn’t moved the idea further or even put his own mark on it. He is treading ground already broken in by Gris. I would want to see more than this reworking. Hughes has it in him.

Arthur Bruso © 2018

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